Drive for vehicles



July 10, 1945. c. F. BALL 7 DRIVE FOR VEHICLES 3 Sheets-Sheet J1 CHARLES F. BALL.

Filed March 19, 1942 July 10,1945. Q F, ALL 2,380,012

DRIVE "FOR VEHICLES Filed March 19, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 o N k 7 :QW

3 3 g H N {;L A .N v x l 3 w N I l v I ll a i I *1 m E F INVENTOR. CHARLES F. BALL m g aW,WM.M

p ATTORNEY-S.

July 10, 1945.

C. F. BALL DRIVE FOR VEHICLES Filed March 19, 1542 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Nu \mfi V w .rTH o Y Y WW i 0 1h" I ll} n v Q "1" 7M1 O 7 w wW m f \w NM, mu M N INVENTOR, YCHARLES F. BALL.

Patented July 10, 1945 Manu'fitcturing GmnpanypE-nmkl .poratiom afsliennsgl'vania i amm- A ncanonmcn 19, 1942 .SeriaLNo. 435,303.

This invention. relates: topower drives, more. particularlyto; such drives that inel'ude. a.,d:ifferentia1-..

In the. usual driveimwhioh a.diffiereiitial; is

, used the diflierentialtisv loazatecLbetween..th e..points to; which? the powervis. delivered; and the. power isztrensmittedfrom. its saouisoeto. the differential.

by. a drive-shaft disposed aten anele-to-the driven, shafts connedted to. the. differential. on. opposite;

SidBSiOfi the drive. shaft: There, arettimesehowm even, when susch. an. arrangement is not.feasible.,, suches whenithetpower mustzbe deliveredto one. or: more driven.- shafitsvbya; drive shaftiocated at. one end oithe driven shaits substantially-in axial alignment; therewith. example. in; mih e; haulage vehielessrsuchas shuttleears that have.

8.31011113W1I8B1 drive, the; body; or loadrcanrying pontion. oi the=-vehie1ez extends.- as fan-down as. possible between the wheels so thatthemveralh height Ofi the; vehiclewan be maintainedtlowt tor entrance into low mine. passages JZhe under-e.

slung. body: makes. it; impossible for jthe power:

plant. to be: placed under thee-hedge between-the axlesand. for the rotating axles tow extend acnosss the} car, so each. wheel ispmountech on. its own stub axleat the side at theibody; Thefront and ream wheels om each. side are; driven; in. tandem; by an 1 electric: motor mounted, at oneaendt oil. the; car at; thEfSidEOfz the body; in the-lspacesformed' by the: longitudinallyinclinedenda of, the.- bodsas; floor; Heretoiioref such a, tandem drive.- hasbhadi theesenious disadmntageathatiuaoks an differens tin]; that; wi1lpermit the; front. and rea rr wheels to; rotate: ah difierent' speeds-i. QQIISE'1UBU1BWI the wheelsa constaintim fight; eaehz other as. first one. and, them theother tries: to" go too fast. That slight difference in. speed. 631115852294; considerable extra; loadontthedrive gearsnwhioh. results power. loss and. extra-wear.- of; the. gears anditires;

principahohjecti of; this invention is td'iprovide a2: powen drive inswhich thedr-iving, is disposed at one end of" the shafts that. it is driving, having a. difierential operatiyeiy; connecting theends' 013 the. driven: shaftsi, A. more I specific; objfeettissto. providesuchahdrivein which.

. be connected-1 to. a source. of? power atl one 1 end.

t'ates. the other. two. members. thepreferredi. form. the... difljerentihl; is driven by the. power means. and the. power is. taken; off from two concentrie, shafts which be openatiyely con.- n'eetedi to two wheelsin. tandem; or. to. any; other members, that it des'iized tbs drive. However,,

desired the poster means. can he; connected" to. the concentric. shaft. for driving, a. difleren, tialiwhiehsdistrihnizastthei power to the, otter shaft. 9.1141. t6. Shaft, in; line. with the inner. shaft'. In;

atmineashfittlecar orthefrlike'i in which two. wheels are driveri. in tandenithepower. means may he mounted. at, Oneend o1; car near one. of the.

wheels. and the-.difirentiah may be. Iocat'ed. either: between the power. meansanctthe. adlapenti wheelf or between the two Wheels. In either, case the; principle, on concentrie shafts connected. by; agrotatingdifierentialisutilized Thisd'rive. also. can. be usedtinimtrucl; having; two driven rear axles.

behind the power. plant. Insucha. ease. the driven. shafitsioif the; drive transmit power to. standard differentials-initiate 'twolaxIeso l The invention. is. illustrated in..t1ie... acyiompganying; drawings in. which.v Fignfl; is. a fragmentary plan View; partlybroken. awaylot amine shuttle oan chassisshowin-g; powerdrifve. c'onneetedto;

the. four. wheels fifths-vehicle; Ei'g; 2- an ene imaged. fragmentary. vertical. section through the differential.- and; concentric; shafts taken; onlthe line 1:11-11:01? 1;, Eig- ...3 i's" anjendvie or: the:

difierential. taken the line; III-1110f Fig; i 2}? E181 4 isemertiehl section oflthedifierentialItaken, on .thealineIiF-LV'QI Fig; 21mg", fijlis aivlew similar. to. Fig; 2. or; at. modified v embodiment; of i the:

invention; amid. gfrag'ment'ary view,,siin:- ilar; tctEig; shqwingtheidrivel ofFigemountedl in amine. shuttle. car. or the. like; having... tandem driven whee1s..

Refenning to- Fig LoiZthe-drawin'gsh thef'rame or: chassis 4' ot. a; vehicle such. as. a mine. shuttle. car, is provided with four stem11wnee1ss. n.-.

nected. by, steering, mechanism; (not shown) to; a

steering wheeli or. leyer; Each. whee isjlocated. atttheu-outer. endhfiahaxlehoiisihgfli thatg-is rigid;

connected atzits, end to: thee catr frame.

ion supporting. the.1e;tter-.,. 'I'heeonnectmri he;

tween. the wheeland outer. endlof this hous ing; is:- conventionei'. and; forms nopart. of in.- vention so.- it need-snot be deseribedfii'n detail. Itist sufiieientitownoir t outlthat. the. wheel-yearn ing; spindle;- cem on; a vertieaI axis. through. the; outer: end}, of. housing; and. that it is; operativelweonneoted' b5; aswivel" joint to: the. outer; end of a, short;;shat or; still? axle T' ion"- the:- shafts which, it; and. flierebg. s ii -nailed? the ho sing 'rnis mre nas'yw nected to its inner end.

of the body between the wheels to accommodate the power plants they are placed at one end of the car.

Each power plant includes an electric: I motor ll the current for which may be supplied.

.gear 8 non-rotatably mounted on its inner end by batteries carried by the car or through a cable connected to a stationary power plant, at a .dis-

The motor drives the adjacent, wheels-v tance.

in tandem through a speed reducing unit l2 con- It is a feature of this invention that'eaclf motor delivers power to both of the wheels on th'efsame."

side of the car througha differential.- Referring. W t Fi 2 the worm gear '8 mounted on the stub axle nearest the. motor is driven by "a Worm l3 rigidly mounted on a tubular shaft I 4 journaled' in bearings 15 that arecarri'ed by a downwardly extending portion of axle housing 6. Extending entirely through this tubularshaft in spaced cone centric relationtherewith is an inner shaft l B thatis, rotatably mounted at the end farthest from the motor in" a bearing H supported by the axle housing. That, end of the inner'shaft is provided with acoupli ig B'for driving'a propeller shaft l9 (Figj D'eXtending along the side of the car frame tof'aishort' shaft journaled in theother axle housingsimilarlyto shaft l4. Shaft 2|] likewise is provided'with a Worm for driving the adjoin-- inglworm gear 8'.

fIn "order to'rojtate the shafts mentioned thus far, thefends' of the concentric. shafts I4 and I6 adjacent the motor are operatively' connected to thej'motoriby means of a differential. 'Thus, the add inner shaft I6 projectingtoward the mo toris splined in a bevel gear 22that faces a similangear 23 keyed on the hollow shaft 14 a short dista ncefrom its end. Meshing with both of the gears is a plurality, preferably four,"of bevel pinions '24 each ofv whichiis journaled on aradial pin iiformingpartof a spider 26 that is'rotatably mounted on the outer shaft between the two gears. The "outer ends of these pins project beyond .thefpinions andinto openings in a differential'housing 2'! that is made'intwo parts bolted togetherfin the central plane" of the spider. 'The housingand spider are thus rigidly connected to gether'with the former surrounding the gears and pinions andjr'otatably mounted on the gear hubs.

The'ou'te'r' end' of the differential-housing is provided with'a coupling 28 by which it is connected to a, short drive shaft 29 that is coupled to the speed reducer l2, as shown in Fig. 1. Drive'shaft 29 is substantially in' axial alignm'ent with the ShaftsTthat'itdliVes: r

' In operation the motor-drivendrive shaftl29 rotatesthe differential housing which in turn rotates the spider connected thereto. The pinions 24 thatbridge. ears 22 and 23 rotate those gears and thereby drive the two concentric shafts. As long as 'both wheels on that side of the car are rotating at the same speed the pinions 24 carried by the rotating spiderdohot turn on pins because gears 22 and 23 donot'turn'relative to eachpther. Butwhenever' either'wheel tendsto turn at a different speed than theother one the two concentric; shafts are" allowedto 1 rotate relative to each other because the pinions; in the aieerenear'hodsin -will rotate on pins25and thereby permit the gears 22 and 23 to turn relative to each other as they rotate with the differential housing. It will therefore be seen that the differential housing, spider, gears and pinions continuously rotate as a unit around an axis c0- inciding with that of the concentric shafts, but at times the gears and pinions also turn relative to, one'another' to produce the usual differential action between the wheels, Asa result the wheels canrotate at different speeds relative to each :other without placing. extra load on the driving .gearS and without power loss and extra wear on the driving mechanism and tires.

'Inthe embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 5 .and 6zthe differential is placed between the front and rear wheels 4|, but the motor 42 remains at one .end of the vehicle with its drive shaft 43 substantially in line with the shafts that it drives. With this arrangement the inner'concentric shaft 44 is connected directly to drive shaft 43 and, in effect, forms an extension thereof! The outer concentric shaft 45 is connected by a worm 46 to the worm gear 4! mounted on the stub axis of the wheel closest to the motor. In

this' case the differential housing 48 is rotate'd I by inner shaft 44 instead of directly by the motor drive shaft. Consequently, the spider 5| is rigidly mounted on the projectingend of the inner shaft so that its rotation istransmittedto the housing through its radial pins 52 that carry rotatable pinions 53. A bearing 54, encircling the inner shaft beside the spiderycenters that end of the shaft relative to the outer shaft and the gear '55" keyed on the latter. "The other wheel onthe same sideof thecar is" driven by the other differential gear 56 through a shaft 51 splined thereinand coupledto a propeller shaft 58 (Fig. 6) that extends along the side of the car frame as in the first embodiment. e V i In" the operation of this modification inner shaft 44 rotates the'spider and differentialhousing' so that pinions 53 rotate the two gears in unison to thereby driveouter shaft 45' and shaft 51 connected to-gear'56. If one of the gears starts to turn more slowly than the other, the pinions' will turn on the-spider pins and the wheels will be driven at different speeds without imposing extra load and wear on the driving mechanism.

It willbe noted that in both embodiments-ofi the invention disclosed herein the entire differential is'rotatedand one of the wheels is driven' by a hollow shaft surrounding-either the shaft that drives the'other wheel orthe primary drive shaft.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and construction of my invention and have illustrated and described what I nowconsider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have shaft. projecting from both ends of the outer one,:

a bearing supporting one end of the innershaft; external bearings for both ends of the outer shaft, said outer shaft having an extension projecting from onev of-s'aid external bearings, one end of the inner-shaft projecting from said ex tension, apair of bevel gears facing each other and having driving connection with the outer e iexiens g a d h aqa ass a end of" the inner shaft, a spider rotatably supported by said extension of the outer shaft between said gears, 'a plurality of bevel pinions rotatably mounted on the spider and meshing with said gears, a rotatable housing surrounding said gears i and one of the other two shafts being adapted to be connected to driven means, and means for operatively connecting the remaining shaft to driving means.

2. A differential drive comprising a pair of rotatable concentric shafts, bearing supports for both ends of the outer shaft, a bearing support for one end of the'inner shaft, the opposite end of the inner shaft projecting from the outer shaft, the outer shaft having a sleeve-like extension extending part way along said projecting end of the inner shaft, a bevel gear having a hub keyed to said extension of said outer shaft, a bevel gear rigidly mounted on the end of the inner shaft projecting'from said extension, a spider journaled on said extension of the outer shaft between said gears and having more than two radially extending pins, bevel pinions rotatably mounted on said pins and meshing with said bevel gears, and a housing surrounding said gears and pinions and carried by the outer ends of said spider pins, one end of said housing being journaled on said gear hub, and the opposite end of the housing forming the only bearing support for said projecting end of the inner shaft,

said opposite end of the housing being formed for connection to driving means.

3. A differential drive comprising a pair of rotatable concentric shafts, bearing supports for both ends of the outer shaft, a bearing support for 7 one end of the inner shaft, the opposite end of the inner shaft projecting from the outer shaft, the outer shaft having a sleeve-like extension extending part way along said projecting end of the inner shaft, a bevel gear having a hub keyed to said extension of said outer shaft, a

spider at more than two circumferentially spaced points, one end of said housing being journaled on the gear hub mounted on said shaft extension, whereby the housing is firmly supported at two axially spaced points, and the hub of the gear mounted on said inner shaft being journaled in the opposite end of said housing and thereby supporting the adjoining end of the inner shaft.

CHARLES F. BALL. 

